II: Political Thinkers and Ideas Penseurs Et Idées Politiques
| DOI | 10.1177/002083451806800102 |
| Date | 01 February 2018 |
| Published date | 01 February 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Abstracts |
33
II
POLITICAL THINKERS AND IDEAS
PENSEURS ET IDÉES POLITIQUES
68.321 ACCETTI, Carlo Invernizzi — Between reason and will: on
Christopher Meckstroth’s The Struggle for Democracy.
European Journal of Political Theory 16(4), Oct. 2017 : 490-
499.
Christopher Meckstroth’s book The Struggle for Democracy [Paradoxes
of Progress and the Politics of Change, Oxford, 2015] poses and at-
tempts to solve a central problem of democratic theory: what he calls the
"paradox of authorization", whereby the very activity of spelling out the
political content of democracy is said to potentially contradict its object,
since the democratic theorist may end up substituting himself or herself
for "the people" in deciding what this form government amounts to in
practice. In order to avoid this problem, Meckstroth suggests that the
political content of democracy ought to be extrapolated out of concrete
political struggles, by submitting competing claims to represent the
people’s will to a rational scrutiny that tests them for internal coherence.
[R, abr.]
68.322 ANDREWS, Kehinde — Beyond Pan-Africanism: Garvey-
ism, Malcolm X and the end of the colonial nation state.
Third World Quarterly 38(11), 2017 : 2501-2516.
Pan-Africanism is an identifiable movement with its own history and
historical and ideological roots. It formally began at the first Pan-African
Congress in London in 1900 and has a distinct linage up to the present
day African Union. Unfortunately, the movement has not presented a
challenge to imperial domination in Africa, rather it has helped continue
the exploitation of the continent. Accepting the colonial nation state has
prevented any politics of liberation from developing in the movement. It is
central to decentre Pan-Africanism from radical histories of resistance
because the movement developed in parallel to and rejection of more
revolutionary, anti-imperial politics. Garveyism developed a mass move-
ment rooted on the global Black nation, shattering the boundaries of
Westphalian sovereignty. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 68.225]
68.323 ANGELLA, Marco — Bridging the gap between critical
theory and critique of power? Honneth’s approach to
"social negativity". Journal of Political Power 10(3), 2017 :
286-302.
I analyze A. Honneth’s theory against the background of some of the
criticisms that A. Allen levelled against it. His endeavor seems to partially
compromise his ability to identify the domineering forms of power that the
subject does not acknowledge consciously and affectively. I argue that,
despite some significant limitations, Honneth’s theory has become
increasingly able to analyze social negativity since The struggle for
recognition. Also, in both defending Honneth’s methodology and delimit-
ing its scope, I contribute to the debate between two understandings of
power: power as "domination" and power as "constitution". [R]
68.324 ANTON, Michael — Spiritual warfare in Machiavelli's
Prince [1532]. Perspectives on Political Science 46(3),
2017 : 169-186.
Machiavelli uses metaphors to convey meaning beyond the surface of
his text. Access to his metaphors often begins via his “mistakes,” such as
his calling (in chapter 12 of the Prince) Philip II of Macedon a “merce-
nary,” when in fact Philip was no such thing. This article focuses on
chapters 12-14 of The Prince and explores the metaphoric meanings of
Machiavelli's four types of soldiers mercenary, auxiliary, mixed, and
one's own — to explicate Machiavelli's account of how the mind of the
West was conquered via “spiritual warfare.” It then explains Machiavelli's
strategy for re-conquest by a new spiritual army trained by Machiavelli
that will fight to defeat the regnant spiritual power and further Machia-
velli's new principles. [R]
68.325 ARESHIDZE, Giorgi — Taking religion seriously? Haber-
mas on religious translation and cooperative learning in
post-secular society. American Political Science Review
111(4), Nov. 2017 : 724-737.
This article evaluates J. Habermas's attempt to reopen political liberalism
to religion. In trying to “take religion seriously,” Habermas goes further
than J. Rawls and other liberal theorists by affirming that religious tradi-
tions articulate truths on which democratic societies continue to depend
for their civic and moral health. “Post-secular” societies, in his view,
should learn from religion by translating its “moral intuitions” into unive r-
sal secular language. Although Habermas appears friendlier to religion
than Rawls, he also calls for the “modernization of religious conscious-
ness.” This theological transformation not only reveals the foundationalist
presuppositions of liberalism, but also points to a highly attenuated
conception of learning from religion. [R, abr.]
68.326 ASHWORTH, Lucian M. — David Mitrany on the interna-
tional anarchy. A lost work of classical realism? Journal
of International Political Theory 13(3), Oct. 2017 : 311-324.
Although Mitrany’s international thought is not usually associated with
the concept of the international anarchy, I argue that his analysis actually
compares two forms of anarchical order. The first form is the order
associated with the relations between states, while the second is his
functional alternative to this order. The functional approach is anarchical
in the sense that it remains an order without an orderer. In first analysing
the dynamics and failings of the inter-state order, and then suggesting
pragmatic process-orientated solutions to those failings, I argue that
Mitrany follows a similar approach to his classical realist contemporaries.
[R] [See Abstr. 68.135]
68.327 BAUMANN, Fred — Comments on Robert Howse, Leo
Strauss: Man of Peace [Cambridge, 2014]. Perspectives on
Political Science 46(3), 2017 : 159-161.
Robert Howse's book does a good and welcome job of showing a Leo
Strauss who is far from the bloodstained “neoconservative” caricature that
is so commonly presented. He rightly emphasizes Strauss's concern for
decency and the keeping of peace where possible. Especially telling is his
account of Strauss's view of Thucydides’ alleged “realism.” He does a good
job of showing how Strauss, like Thucydides , balances the claims of
necessity with the substantive and practically important claims of justice.
However, Howse pushes Strauss a little too far when it comes to his faith in
permanently peaceful large federations and goes to excess in distancing
himself from Strauss's neoconservative followers, at one point even falling
into mischaracterization in doing so. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 68.413]
68.328 BERNSTEIN, Jeffrey A. — A note on a digression on
Arendt in Waller Newell's Tyranny: A New Interpretation
[Cambridge, 2013]. Perspectives on Political Science 43(4),
2017 : 221-224.
This note explores Newell's instructive digression, in his Tyranny, about
Hannah Arendt's reading of Aristotle (in The H uman Condition [Chicago, Ill.,
1958]). I supplement his account of Arendt as collapsing the theory/practice
distinction as a result of her indebtedness to Heidegger. [R] [First article of a
symposium on "The faces of tyrann y: a symposium on Waller R. Newell's
Tyrants: A History of Power, Injustice and Terror [Cambridge, 2016]", edited
and introduced, pp. 219-220, by Alexander S. DUFF and Flagg TAYLOR, and
concluded by an "Interview w ith Waller R. Newell", pp. 247-256, by the
editors. See also Abstr. 68.369, 370, 403, 421, 424]
68.329 BORTOLINI, Matteo — Found in translation: Habermas
and anthropotechnics. European Legacy 22(5-6), Aug.-
Sept. 2017 : 583-599.
In his recent work on post-secular societies Jürgen Habermas has
stressed the need for a dialogue between religious and nonreligious
citizens aimed at strengthening social integration and rejuvenating the
moral bases of modern political and juridical institutions. This dialogue
should focus on the translation of religious traditions into rational, se cular
forms. In his more recent work on the s ocial function of rituals, however,
he rejected the Durkheimian view of public secular rituals as mecha-
nisms for fostering social integration. I discuss Habermas’s early reflec-
tions on post-secularism and assess his interpretation of public religious
rituals as sources of social integration. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 68.430]
68.330 BOZZO-REY, Malik ; BRUNON-ERNST, Anne ; QUINN,
Michael, eds. — Indirect legislation: Jeremy B entham’s
regulatory revolution. History of European Ideas 43(1-2),
Jan.-March 2017 : 1-121.
Editors' introduction, pp. 1-10. Articles by Michael QUINN, "Jeremy
Bentham, choice architect: law, indirect legislation, and the context of
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